Folding bed



N. B. DOUGLASS.

FOLDING BED.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3. I919. 1,344,995. Patented June 29, 1920.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET l- 7 Fig.1,

\ INVENTOR I I Napo [e022 BuDozlylass P :3 BY

. M a? I ATTORNEYS N. B. DOUGLASS.

FOLDING BED.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3, 1919.

Patented June 29, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IN VENTOR Napoleon ZLDouylass ATTORNEYS 4o tionwith a folding foot piece, as well as in connection with folding legs.

' To'a llwhomit may concern: 1;; i Be it'known that 1,.NAPLE0N 13.. Done-E U ITE OFFICE.

im omon 1;. racemes, OF B ntam? climrojm'qia.

" ma ma Specification of Letters' Patent.

' Fat'ented June 29,

a li s-ummeaise tember 3, 1e19".-. serial No. 3213442.

Lass, a citizen of the' I-lnited States, residin 2 at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda an State of California,- have ilwentednew and useful Improvements: in Folding Beds, of

which the following isaspecification.

This invention relates 'to' foldingbeds and more particularly to a latch mechanism for.

a. hinged member of thelbed. V t

The object of the invention is to conceal the latch mechanism insucli i nanner that no part thereof will be'visible. This i's accomplished by employing atubul ar construction for the hinged portion and locatin g the latch Within the tubular member. The latch or dinarily is employed in connection with hinged legs or hinged foot pieces of a fold Fig. 3 shows-a sectional view of one form] of latch mechanism. 1 r

Fig. 4 shows a sectional View of a modified form of latch mechanism. r Fig. 5 shows a sectional view of a still different form of latch mechanism wherein the latch is controlled by gravity;

F ig. 6 shows a similar view illustr'ating the parts in a different position.

Fig. 7 shows an elevation of a portion of the outer end of a folding. bed illustrating my latch mechanism employed in connec- A bed frame is indicated generally by numeral 10 and is pivoted at its forward. end

is in folded position.

i provide a latch mechanism for the hinged as shown at 10 for folding movement. Included in the bed frame is a foot piece 11 having supporting legs 12. This foot piece and supporting legs. are of tubularconstruction and the latter are hinged as shown at 13 to fold against the bed frame when the bed In the form shown in Figs. 2 and 3,I

' members which comprises a leaf spring 14 mounted entirely within the tubular leg and having a hook 15 at its free end, which, hook cooperates with beveled 7 lug 16 secured to l the stationary or fixed portion of the bed frame.v The operation of this latch mecha nism will readily be understood. When it is desired'to fold the bed, pressure is appliedto' "the leg in the direction to fold the same whereupon the spring 14 yields sufficiently to disengage itselffrom thelug 16. In extending the bed, the folding? leg is mov'ed to extended position, whereupon the hook shaped end '15 of. thespringrides over the beveledface of-the lug 16 and seats" itself back of the lug whereby to'reta in' the leg in e extended position.

3 A modified form of the latch isshow'n in Fig. 4, wherein the lug 16 has been omitted. In this form the spring 14 presses outwardly against the Wall of the tubular member 11 and retains the hinged leg in extended posi-' tion by reason of frictional contact. The free end of the leaf spring is so shaped and positioned with respect to the hinge that flexing of the leaf spring is necessary to move the leg to folded position and the hook is extended so that its beveled portion will engage with the'end 17 of the foot piece when the leg is being moved to extended position and. rlde' thereover, seating itself'on the in'sideof the tubular member 11.

In the form shown in Fi s. 5 and 6, I make use of a gravity hook. his comprises a hook-shaped member .18 pivoted to one of the tubular members at 19 and cooperating, with a lug 20 carried by the other tubular member. The hook 18 is so shaped and balanced that when the bed'is in folded position, which ordinarilyrepresents the vertical position of the bed frame, the outer end .ofithe hook 18 will overbalance the inner end allowing the hook to drop down as shown in Fig. 6, thereby releasing the. lug .20, whereupon the leg 12 may be. moved downwardly to folded position. As the bed frame is swung from avertical to a horizontal position as in unfolding, the hook 18 gradually assumes an upright position, such as shown in Fig. 5, and in this position pivot 19 is so placed with reference to the hook that the hook-shaped end of the -member will swing in the opposite direction to reengage the lug 20, thereby latching the leg in extended position. This is'so because of theune'ven distribution of the weight of the, hook-shaped member "considered in a longi-- tudinal direction.

In Fig. '7 I showfa foot piece '11 wherein V dropped inwardly against, the bed clothing the Lip-standing or bail-shaped portion 11 is hinged, one or the other of the forms'of;

concealed hinges already described being used to latch the hinged foot piece in up right position. By so hinging this upstanding portion of the foot piece, it may be when the bed is folded and thereby the I thickness of the folded bed'is considerably i reduced, andI am'enabledto-materially reduce the ,depthzof the closet or recess in I which the bed is stored. This is an. item of considerable importance in connection with wall beds. 1 7 V vHaving thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by LetterszPatent is: a a a 1.. In a folding bed, a tubular frame me1n-' ber having a tubularlparthingedly connectin horizontal position retain the parts in extended position, and when the bed frame is Vertical to release thefparts and allow themto be folded. V

'2; In a folding bed, a tubular frame member having a tubular part hingedly connect? ed thereto and a latch for said hinge connection comprisinga gravity operated pawl pivotally mounted within the'tubular frame 7 member and extending into the hinged tu- V bular part anda lug in the latter with which the. pawl cooperates, said pawl being opera tive when the bed frame is in horizontal 130- sition to engage the lug and retain the parts inextended position and when the bed frame is in vertical position to disengage the lug and allowqthe parts to be'folded.

J In testimony whereof I havehereunto set my hand inthepresence of two subscribing witnesses. V NAPOLEON ,DOUGLASS.

' Witnesses :I v HARRY'BLSTEARNS,

\ MAMIE COBB. 

